【摘要】 <正>约公元前3200年,西亚的美索不达米亚地区,即底格里斯河与幼发拉底河构成的两河流域,其南部已使用世界上已知最早的文字——原始楔形文字[1]。文字产生之前,西亚地区已存在多种保存记录的方式,原始楔形文字只是在发展中胜出的一种[2]。有学者研究发现西亚的记录系统长期参与行政管理、追踪收入、支付及大型组织内的转让等活动,正是这些活动促使了文字的发明[3]。文字发明之前,记录系统已在上述活动中起更多还原

【Abstract】 The seals and sealing system in West Asia experienced three developing stages. In the second half of the 7 th millennium BC, the earliest seals and sealing clays in the world occasionally appeared in northern Levant, Upper Euphrates and Upper Tigris and were used to seal goods or record information. From the end of the 7 th to the mid 6 th millennia BC, they spread to southeast Anatolia and the upper reach of Kabul River. Meanwhile, broken sealing clays were used as receipts in public deposit. From the mid 6 th to the mid 5 th millennia BC, northern part of West Asia could be divided into two regions according to distributions of seals of different types. In the western region, there were mainly stamp seals, while in the eastern, pendants and amulets were dominant. Marking goods and recording information became important functions of seals. The elements of the Halaf and Ubaid Phenomena played important roles in the development of the seals.更多还原